Jails Pouring State Grants Into Developing Mental Health Facilities
Advocates worry the projects are undermining the community-level approach to treating mental illness.
KQED:
Realignment 5 Years On: Counties Build Jails For Inmates With Mental Illness
Five years removed from one of the most sweeping criminal justice reforms ever implemented in the state, California’s 58 counties are still coming to grips with the effects of the plan known as Public Safety Realignment. Realignment aimed to satisfy a U.S. Supreme Court order to reduce the state prison population by some 30,000 inmates by transferring responsibility for non-serious, non-violent and non-sexual felons to counties. Today, at least 40 California counties have either completed or are planning jail construction projects. (Emslie, 9/29)
In other news —
San Francisco Business Times:
Sutter Opens New Outpatient Psychiatric Center
To help reduce the shortage of mental heath facilities in the area, Sutter Health has opened a $1.1 million outpatient psychiatry center on Folsom Boulevard. (Anderson, 9/30)